I still don't get it. I do want a zero for the subversion_flags to be stored in the table. But it returned an error because it didn't like subversion_flags='' in the UPDATE SQL statement. subversion_flags | integer | not null default 0 Mary -----Original Message----- From: Tom Lane [mailto:tgl@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] Sent: Sunday, April 04, 2010 7:50 PM To: Wang, Mary Y Cc: pgsql-general@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: Re: Null vs. Empty String in Postgres 8.3.8 "Wang, Mary Y" <mary.y.wang@xxxxxxxxxx> writes: > Can someone provide a link to the Postgres 8.x documentation that provides information about Null vs. Empty String? > Here is the situation: > Currently, the source code performs the following SQL statement : > UPDATE user_group set subversion_flags='' WHERE user_id='5818' AND > group_id='438'; (This SQL statement worked in a very old version of > Postgres) and pgsql 8.3.8 returned ERROR: invalid input syntax for integer: "" You were not getting a NULL there. You were getting an integer zero, as a result of sloppy input checking in the integer-input routine. regards, tom lane -- Sent via pgsql-general mailing list (pgsql-general@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx) To make changes to your subscription: http://www.postgresql.org/mailpref/pgsql-general
